June 15, 2015 - Consumer Watchdog today petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to enact rules that would require Internet companies known as “edge providers”, such as Google and Facebook, to honor Do Not Track requests sent from a consumer’s web browser. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/fccdntpetition

April 21, 2015 -- Google spends a record $5.47 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 43 percent from $3.82 million in the comparable 2014 period, according to disclosures just filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Comcast, which is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department for a merger with Time Warner Cable spends $4.62 million in the quarter, an increase of 50 percent from $3.09 million in the first quarter of 2014. The two giants were the biggest lobbying spenders among 16 tech and communications companies monitored by Consumer Watchdog. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-spends-record-547-million-1st-quarter-lobbying-comcast-outlay-soars-50-percent-46

April 7, 2015 – Consumer Watchdog has joined a coalition of prominent children’s and consumer advocacy groups that filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission today requesting an investigation of Google, charging the company with unfair and deceptive practices in connection with its new YouTube Kids app. The complaint details a number of the app’s features that take advantage of children’s developmental vulnerabilities and violate long-standing media and advertising safeguards that protect children viewing television. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/child-and-consumer-advocates-urge-ftc-investigate-and-bring-action-against-google-excess

March 3, 2015 -- Consumer Watchdog joins 13 other public interest groups in a letter to President Obama outlining the shortcomings of the draft Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights Act and pledging to work with the Administration and Congress to strengthen the bill. Read the groups’ letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrobamagroups030315.pdf

Dec. 9, 2014 -- Consumer Watchdog joins the Center for Digital Democracy and eight other organizations inasking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and take enforcement action against the Topps Company for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The complaint, which was prepared for the 10 groups by Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Public Representation, centers around Candymania.com and a social media campaign to promote Ring Pops, a candy targeted at kids. Read News release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/consumer-watchdog-joins-call-ftc-probe-topps-coppa-violation

Oct. 29, 2014 -- Google spends $3.94 million lobbying the federal government in the third quarter, off from its record $5.30 million in the previous quarter, but up 17 percent from $3.37 million in the comparable period in 2013, according to records just filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and analyzed by Consumer Watchdog. Of 15 tech and communications companies’ lobbying spending monitored by Consumer Watchdog only Comcast, which is seeking approval for a $45 billion deal to acquire Time Warner Cable spent more than the Internet giant, reporting lobbying costs for the third quarter of $4.23 million. Nine of the 15 companies monitored trimmed their expenditures compared to the third quarter of 2013. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-spends-394-million-3rd-quarter-lobbying-comcast-spends-423-million-facebook-lists

Aug. 29, 2014 – Google bans Disconnect Mobile, a privacy app, from its Google Play apps store. “Google has way too much power over distribution of applications on Android and can kill applications at will without justification, says Disconnect’s co-founder Casey Oppenheim. “This is why efforts to create alternative Android based platforms that respect user privacy … are so important for the future of the increasingly Android-based Internet.” Read Consumer Watchdog’s blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/google-bans-privacy-app-google-play

Aug. 29, 2014 -- An $8.5 million settlement in a class action privacy lawsuit against Google “doesn’t pass the smell test” Federal Judge Edward Davila says at a fairness hearing on the proposed deal in San Jose, CA, indicating he will likely reject it. “The elephant in the room is that many of them are law schools that you attended,” Davila said, according to Bloomberg News. Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/google-settlement-%E2%80%9Cdoesn%E2%80%99t-pass-smell-test

June 19, 2014 -- People aren’t buying the bafflegab being spouted by mega moguls claiming that the $45.2 billion merger of cable TV giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable would benefit consumers. A whopping 56 percent of American oppose the deal, while only 11 percent say they support it, according to a poll released Thursday by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/we%E2%80%99re-not-buying-comcasttime-warner-claims.

June 18, 2014 -- Google will start to remove links to online content in Europe by the end of June, New York Times reports, to comply with a recent landmark European court ruling intended to protect individuals’ privacy, according to sources with direct knowledge of the issue. Google has already received more than 50,000 submissions from people asking the company to remove links. That includes more than 12,000 requests within the first 24 hours of the form’s being made available, Times says. Read article here: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/google-ready-to-comply-with-right-to-be-forgotten-rules-in-europe/

June 10, 2014 -- Google announces that it will to buy Skybox Imaging for $500 million in cash. The company is building low cost satellites to orbit 185 miles above the earth's surface that will provide high-resolution satellite images.

June 10, 2014 -- Consumer Watchdog warns the California Department of Motor Vehicles not to succumb to pressure from Google and others with a vested interest in developing “driverless cars” to rush to adopt regulations for the public use of the vehicles that are inadequate to protect our safety. “We urge the DMV to follow a sensible and deliberate approach that would require adequate testing and time to analyze the test results,” wrote John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director, in a letter to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-warns-dmv… Read Consumer Watchdog’s letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrdmvdriverless061014.pdf

May 30, 2014 -- Google has implements a search removal request mechanism for people living in Europe who believe it has indexed information about them that they have a right to remove because of the right to be forgotten. Read TechCrunch news story here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/30/right-to-be-forgotten-webform/

May 14, 2014 – Google holds annual shareholders’ meeting and announces it will release EEO employment data. Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John M. Simpson attends, asks Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt two questions: 1) To explain how his membership on the New York Smarts Schools Commission is not a conflict of interest. 2) What the impact of the European Court of Justice’s decision upholding the “right to be forgotten” will be on Google. View a video of the exchange between Simpson and Schmidt here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0q7ZvV796E.

April 14, 2014 – New Google Terms of Service (TOS) take effect, making it clear that the Internet giant reads your content. In the TOS Google claims the right to do whatever it wants with your stuff, even if you quit the service, Consumer Watchdog says. “There can be no doubt: Google snoops on everything you send them, as it makes its way through the Internet giant's computer systems and when it is stored in Google’s cloud, so Google can build digital dossiers about you.” Read blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/googles-terms-service-we-can-do-whatever-we-want.

April 9, 2014 – Google apparently trying trademark the “Glass,” the Internet giant’s wearable computing device, according to the Wall Street Journal. Consumer Watchdog makes a “modest proposal.” “Google should trademark the word ‘Spy.’ It would apply not only to the geeky wearable device sported by Glassholes, but to virtually every product and service the Internet giant offers.” Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/google-should-apply-trademark-spy.

Feb. 27, 2014 -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris acts to improve cybersecurtity in the state before new laws are passed. She released recommendations to California businesses to help protect against and respond to the increasing threat of malware, data breaches and other cyber risks. Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/california-ag-takes-lead-cybersecurity

Feb. 10, 2014 General Services Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announce that Google will get control of Moffett Field even though a NASA audit found that the jet fleet owned through a company called H211 by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and Co-Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin received an unwarranted discount worth up to $5.3 million on jet fuel purchased from the government. Awarding the contract wrongly rewards the Internet giant’s executives for longstanding abuses at Ames Research Center, Consumer Watchdog says. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/giving-google-control-moffett-field-wrongly-rewards-execs%E2%80%99-longstanding-abuse

Jan. 22, 2014 -- Google’s social network, Google+, relies on a flagrant and fundamental privacy design flaw that is an unfair business practice, Consumer Watchdog says in a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, the nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest group says that the Internet giant’s plan to link Google+ accounts to Gmail, so that a user can send an email to a Gmail account, without knowing the address would violate the “Buzz” Consent Agreement that settled privacy invasions when Google launched its first attempt at a social network. Read letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrftcgoogle012114.pdf

Jan. 21, 2014 -- Google leads in lobbying spending by ten tech firms who pumped a combined $61.15 million into efforts to influence federal regulators and lawmakers in 2013, up 15.9 percent from a combined total of $52.78 million, according to records filed with the Clerk of the House this week. “Policymaking in Washington is all about how much money you can throw around,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director. “These tech guys are increasingly willing to spend whatever it takes to buy what they want.” Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-leads-pack-10-tech-firms-pump-6115-million-2013-lobbying-efforts

Dec. 11, 2013 – NASA Inspector General finds that a fleet of planes owned by Google’s billionaire top executives based at Ames Research Center’s Moffett Field received an unwarranted discount worth up to $5.3 million on jet fuel purchased from the government. “While this arrangement did not cause an economic loss to NASA or DLA-Energy, it did result in considerable savings for H211 and engendered a sense of unfairness and a perception of favoritism toward H211 and its owners. Accordingly, we recommend that NASA explore with the company possible options to remedy this situation,” wrote NASA IG Paul Martin. Almost three years ago Consumer Watchdog described the deal that allowed H211, a company owned by top Google executives, to base a fleet of aircraft, including a Boeing 767, a Boeing 757 and four Gulfstream V's, at Moffett Field. With the release of the IG’s report, Consumer Watchdog calls for the eviction of the planes from Moffett. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-calls-nasa-evict-google-executives%E2%80%99-planes-after-inspector-general-fin

Dec. 4, 2013 -- Consumer Watchdog files a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about the deceptive and unfair way Google displays results from its comparison shopping engine, Google Shopping, in its search results. “The way that the Internet giant is featuring results from Google Shopping without making it clear that the highlighted results are nothing more than advertisements for merchants who bid for placement is an unfair and deceptive act, violating Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act,” writes John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director, in a letter to the Commission. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-complains-ftc-about-deception-google-shopping-results

Nov. 18, 2013 – Thirty-seven State Attorneys General announce $17 million settlement with Google for hacking around the privacy settings on Apple’s Safari Browser and setting tracking cookies. Consumer Watchdog says settlement demonstrates the Internet giant’s business strategy of doing whatever it wants and then buying its way out of trouble when caught breaking the rules. “Google hacked around the privacy settings on Apple’s Safari web browser, set tracking cookies and lied about what it was doing. Now Google pays the states $17 million, doesn’t even apologize and claims it didn’t break the law,” says John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director. “When these Google guys get caught with their fingers in the cookie jar, they just buy their way out of trouble. If Google cared a whit about your privacy, they would have apologized. They just view these penalties as a cost of doing business.” Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-continues-buy-its-way-out-privacy-problems-consumer-watchdog-says

Nov. 6, 2013 -- Google’s latest proposal to settle a European antitrust investigation does nothing to solve the underlying problem of how the Internet giant manipulates results and favors its own services in search, Consumer Watchdog says as it releases the proposal and questions the European Commission is asking about it. Documents detailing the proposed deal were considered confidential by the European Commission. Early today Consumer Watchdog challenged Google to make them public and said it would do so if Google did not release them by the end of the day. Shortly after Consumer Watchdog’s letter to Google CEO Larry Page is made public, The Financial Times in London makes the documents available on its website. Consumer Watchdog says there is no point in waiting for Google to possibly act, once the FT had published the proposed deal’s details. Read the news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google%E2%80%99s-european-antitrust-settlement-proposal-insufficient-consumer-watchdog-says-grou

Nov. 6, 2013 -- Consumer Watchdog challenges Google to make public its latest proposal to settle the European Commission’s antitrust investigation, or says it will release the proposed deal if the Internet giant won’t. Consumer Watchdog commented on the first proposal and therefore received a copy of the second offer and was asked its opinion of the proposal, even though the settlement offer wasn’t released to the public. “Google claims its ‘mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.’ You do an amazing job of this -- including making public much of what people would prefer be kept private -- except when the information is about Google,” wrote Privacy Director John m. Simpson in a letter to Google CEO Larry Page. Read Consumer Watchdog’s news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-challenges-google-make-eu-antitrust-settlement-offer-public-us-public-

Oct. 22 -- Google continues to lead tech firms in lobbying expenses during the third quarter, spending $3.4 million on its effort to buy influence with federal legislators and policymakers, according to disclosure forms just filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. “When the government is open for business, policymaking is all about who has the cash and is willing throw it around,” says Privacy Project Director John M. Simpson. Read release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-leads-tech-firms-lobbying-expenses-facebook-spending-47-percent

Aug. 26, 2013 – California Assembly passes AB 370, which would requires a website or online service to disclose how it responds when it receives a “Do Not Track” message. Consumer Watchdog urges Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the bill because it is a step towards consumer knowledge, but adds that ultimately consumers must have the right to simply say “no” to online tracking. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/node/16350.

July 25, 2013 – Department of Commerce’s National Telephone and Information Agency (NTIA) Multi-stakeholder process approves Transparency Code for Mobile Apps. Consumer Watchdog says yearlong effort demonstrates the futility of crafting codes of conduct through a voluntary multi-stakeholder process and the way participants were asked their opinion of the proposed code makes a mockery of the effort. Consumer Watchdog calls on President Obama to propose detailed privacy legislation -- something he called for more than a year ago – if he cares about consumers’ privacy. Read news release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/effort-craft-apps-%E2%80%9Ctransparency-code%E2%80%9D-shows-futility-multi-stakeholder-process

June 6, 2013 – Consumer Watchdog’s John M. Simpson attends Google annual shareholders’ meeting to press privacy concerns about Google Glass. Notes hypocrisy of meeting rules that would ban Glass and asks if people will be given right to delete photos and video that was taken without their consent. Watch video of exchange with CEO Larry Page here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/video/pointed-questions-about-google-glass-and-privacy

May 16, 2013 -- Eight members of Congress send letter to Google CEO Larry Page asking tough and necessary questions about the Internet giant's new wearable computing device, Google Glass. The letter from members of the Bipartisan Privacy Caucusis conservative Joe Barton, (R-TX), says, "As members of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, we are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American." Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/bipartisan-privacy-caucus-asks-important-privacy-questions-about-google-glass

April 23, 2013 -- Facebook continues its major effort to win friends in Washington, spending $2.45 million on lobbying efforts during the first quarter, a 277 percent increase from $650,000 a year earlier just filed disclosures show. For all of 2012 Facebook’s spent $3.99 million on lobbying, according to records filed with the Clerk of The House of Representatives. Google, after scoring a substantial victory in February when the Federal Trade Commission closed its antitrust investigation with a tap on the wrist, cut sits first quarter lobbying spending by 33 percent to $3.35 million. Read Consumer Watchdog release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/facebook%E2%80%99s-lobbying-spending-soars-277-percent-245-million-first-quarter

April 23, 2013 – Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, holds hears on the status of the development of a Do Not Track standard.

April 2, 2013 -- Google may face fines in the millions of dollars in Europe as six countries open formal investigations into how Google combined its privacy and data policies last year without bothering to seek users' consent. The actions by France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain come as Google refused to make changes in privacy policies requested by a group of European data protection authorities. Read Consumer Watchdog blog post here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/blog/google-may-face-more-fines-privacy-violations-europe

March 20, 2013 -- Eleven Internet Companies are pressing European antitrust regulators to take strong action against Google so that the Internet giant's smaller rivals aren't hurt. And what happens across the pond in this case could have an impact on possible antitrust action in the United States. The companies, organized by the British shopping comparison website Foundem.

March 12, 2013 -- The $7 million deal ending a multi-state investigation of the Google Wi-Spy scandal does virtually nothing to thwart the Internet giant’s repeated privacy violations, Consumer Watchdog says. The public interest group said Google should pay an amount that would affect its profits. “Asking Google to educate consumers about privacy is like asking the fox to teach the chickens how to ensure the security of their coop,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “The educational video will also drive consumers to the YouTube platform, where Google will just gather more data about them for its digital dossiers." Read News Release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-calls-meaningful-wi-spy-penalties.

March 12, 2013 – Thirty-eight states attorneys general announce $7 million settlement with Google in Wi-Spy scandal. Connecticut led the investigation. Another provision of the agreement is that Google will make a YouTube video that educates people how to better secure their Wi-Fi networks. Read Connecticut Attorney General’s news release here: http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?Q=520518&A=2341

Jan. 8, 2013 -- Consumer Watchdog calls on Federal Trade Commission to release the 100-page staff report on the 19-month Google investigation as the only way to “restore a modicum of public trust in the Commission’s ability to serve as an effective antitrust enforcer.” Read release here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/consumer-watchdog-asks-ftc-… port-google-investigation

Dec. 18, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to take over the ongoing federal antitrust probe of Google after the company’s chairman in a news interview equated it with antitrust poster child Microsoft in the 1990s. The Federal Trade Commission appears ready to conclude its 20-month investigation “with no more than a scolding.” Read the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/resources/ltrholder121812.pdf

Dec. 12, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog calls for a Senate hearing into Google’s “morally bankrupt” tax policies that force taxpayers “to make up for the Internet giant’s unwillingness to pay its fair share." Consumer Watchdog calls for the hearing in a letter to Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, urging that Google CEO Larry Page and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt be called “to testify under oath and explain their company’s flagrant abuse of the tax code to the detriment of all who play fairly." Read the letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/resources/ltrbaucus121212.pdf

Nov. 15, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog urges the Federal Trade Commission to file an antitrust suit against Google and proceed to trial in U.S. District Court. The group says the FTC should break up the company and force it to divest its Motorola Mobility subsidiary. Read the letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resource/ltrftcgoog111512.pdf

Oct. 21, 2012 Google and Facebook continue to pump money into their Washington lobbying efforts in the third quarter with the Internet giant spending its second most amount in one quarter while the social networking company spent its most ever for one quarter. Go to House Lobbying Disclosures Database here: http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldsearch.aspx

Sept. 26, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog has calls on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to reject applications from Google and Amazon to buy control of huge swaths of the Internet by purchasing new generic Top Level Domains. Read letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltricann092612.pdf

Sept. 25, 2012 -- The driverless car law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown at a ceremony at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View poses threats to Californians’ safety and privacy, Consumer Watchdog says.

Sept. 21, 2012 -- The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed $22.5 million settlement with Google for hacking past privacy settings on Apple’s Safari browser fails to include a permanent injunction against violating its “Buzz” Consent Decree with the Commission, one of three reasons it be should be rejected, Consumer Watchdog tells U.S. Judge Susan Illston. In addition to failing to include a permanent injunction the settlement should not be approved because the amount of the penalty is too small and it allows Google to explicitly deny wrongdoing. Gary Reback of Carr & Ferrell represents Consumer Watchdog. Read Consumer Watchdog’s amicus curiae brief here:

Sept. 20, 2012 --Consumer Watchdog urges Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D –W.VA) to block attempts by Google and Amazon to buy control of huge swaths of the Internet by purchasing new generic Top Level Domains through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Read the letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrrockefeller091912.pdf

Sept. 10, 2012 – Consumer Watchdog calls on California Gov. Jerry Brown to veto a bill that allows Google’s driverless cars on the highway because it does not provide adequate privacy protections for users of the new technology. In a letter to Gov. Brown Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John M. Simpson wrote SB 1298 “is completely insufficient. It gives the user no control over what data will be gathered and how the information will be used.” Read the letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrbrown070912.pdf

Sept. 5, 2012 – Consumer Watchdog says the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to launch a program to measure mobile broadband service performance in the United States falls short of providing adequate protection. Cell phone carriers must be required to disclose data speeds in their advertisements if consumers are to benefit.

Aug. 28, 2012 -- U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston grants Consumer Watchdog the right to oppose Google's record $22.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission because it allows the Internet giant to deny any wrongdoing. Read Judge Illston’s order granting amicus curiae status here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/illstonorder082812.pdf

Aug. 22, 2012 – Consumer Watchdog files a motion in U.S. District Court asking that it be allowed to oppose the $22.5 million settlement the Federal Trade Commission has reached with Google because the agreement allows the Internet giant to deny any wrongdoing. Gary Reback and Robert J. Yorio, of the law firm Carr & Ferrell, file the motion in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of the nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest group. Read the motion here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ftcgooglemotion082112.pdf

Aug. 17, 2012 -- Judge Richard Seeborg rejects proposed settlement in a class action suit against Facebook for using its users’ personal information in “Sponsored Stories” advertisements without their consent. Consumer Watchdog has opposed the settlement.

Aug. 2, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog opposes the proposed settlement in a class action suit against Facebook for using Facebook users’ personal information in Sponsored Stories advertisements without their consent, saying that deal “is not fair, adequate or reasonable and provides no direct or indirect benefit to class members.” Read Consumer Watchdog’s letter to the court here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/fraley_objection_letter_cwd_8-1-12_v.2.pdf

July 25, 2012 – Joaquin Almunia, EU’s Competition Commissioner, says that concessions offered by Google to settle antitrust concerns would be applied worldwide. Details not disclosed but Almunia says, “We have enough clarifications so as to start the process of technical meetings.” Without a settlement Google could face fines of around $4 billion.

July 20, 2012 – Google’s second quarter lobbying spending soars 90 percent to $3.92 million compared to $2.06 million in the comparable 2011 period. For the first six months of the year Google spent $8.95 million. That compares with $3.54 million in the first six months of 2011. It comes close to the $9.7 million spent in all of 2011.

July 12, 2012, National Telecommunications and Information Agency of Department of Commerce convenes first “multi-stakeholder process” meeting seeking to develop enforceable codes of conduct to implement the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. This meeting focuses on “transparency” in mobile “apps”.

July 10, 2012 – Wall Street Journal reports Google is poised to pay a record $22.5 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission for hacking past privacy settings on iPhones, iPads and computers using Apple’s Safari browser. Consumer Watchdog filed a complaint with the FTC in February after Stanford University Graduate Student Jonathan Mayer discovered what Google was doing.

July 2, 2012 – Google offers concessions in EU antitrust case, but details are not disclosed.

July 2, 2012 – Transportation Committee approves SB 1298 by vote of 13-0 and refers amended bill to Appropriations Committee. Amendment will require manufacturer of autonomous car technology to disclose what data it gathers. This amendment was offered because of privacy concerns raised by Consumer Watchdog, but is insufficient.

June 25, 2012 -- Google’s driverless cars should not be allowed on our highways unless strong privacy protections for users of the new technology are implemented, Consumer Watchdog tells the California Assembly’s Transportation Committee. The Committee holds a hearing on SB 1298, the bill that would allow so-called autonomous cars, such as those being developed by Google, on the state’s highways. Simply listing the data the robot cars will collect does not provide sufficient protection, said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. Committee holds bill over until July 2.

June 19, 2012 -- In an opinion piece published in POLITICO, Consumer Watchdog's Jamie Court and John M. Simpson compare the treatment of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch – who was called before Parliament in Britain to answer for hacking into the private phone records of families – and the kid glove treatment Google CEO Larry Page has received in America after a much larger privacy breach in which the new media giant collected personal information from millions of Wi-Fi networks around the world. Consumer Watchdog called for a Congressional hearing to require CEO Page to answer questions under oath about what he knew and when he knew it regarding "Wi-Spy," Google’s massive invasion of the privacy of home Wi-Fi networks.

May 31, 2012 – Microsoft announces that its new version of Internet Explorer will ship with Do Not Track turned on by default.

May 30, 2012 -- Google’s driverless cars should not be allowed on U.S. highways unless adequate privacy protections for users of the new technology are implemented, Consumer Watchdog says. The nonpartisan, nonprofit group urged the California Assembly to defeat a bill, SB 1298, that would allow Google’s driverless cars on California’s roads unless the legislation is amended to provide adequate privacy protection for users of the technology.

May 21, 2012 -- European Commission finds that Google’s business practices may violate antitrust law. The Commission said it was concerned that Google was favoring its own services in search, copying material from websites of competitors without permission, shutting out advertising competition and placing restrictions on the portability of online search advertising campaigns from its platform AdWords to the platforms of competitors. Joaquín Almunia, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy, offered Google the possibility of proposing remedies to the Commission's four concerns “in a matter of weeks.” Otherwise he said the Commission would file a formal list of objections, which could make Google liable for fines of up to 10 percent of its revenue. Revenue last year was $38 billion.

May 17, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog counters Google’s objections to the Federal Communications Commission’s release of detailed documents about the Commission’s investigation of how Google hacked into private Wi-Fi networks and sought broad disclosure of the documents’ contents. Consumer Watchdog has filed a request for the significant documents related to the FCC’s investigation. Google has opposed much of the request, claiming that portions are commercially sensitive or private personal information.

April 26, 2012 – FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz tells San Francisco area reporters that the Commission has hired a prominent Washington litigator to lead its antitrust investigation of the Internet giant, the first time in at least five years the federal regulatory agency has taken such a step. The lawyer, Beth Wilkinson, successfully argued for the government that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh be given the death penalty. The move signaled ling the gravity of the government's antitrust investigation against Google. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20488270/google-ftc-antitrust-trial-attorney-wilkinson-mcveigh

April 16, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog demands that the Federal Communications Commission release an uncensored version of its highly redacted decision to fine Google $25,000 and files a Freedom of Information Act Request to obtain an uncensored copy.

April 13, 2012 – Federal Communications Commission fines Google $25,000 for deliberately impeding and delaying the Commission’s investigation of the Wi-Spy scandal in which Google Street View cars sucked up communications from private Wi-Fi networks as they traveled streets in more than 30 countries. Read the decision here: http://transition.fcc.gov/DA-12-592A1.pdf

Feb. 28, 2012: France's data protection authority says a preliminary analysis finds that Google's new privacy policy appears to violate European data-protection rules. The regulatory agency CNIL says Google's explanation of how it will use the data is too vague and difficult to understand "even for trained privacy professionals."

Feb. 23, 2012 -- White House issues its privacy report calling fore baseline privacy legislation and a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Consumer Watchdog influenced the report. When issued in draft form by the Commerce Department, it referred to "Commercial Data Privacy." Consumer Watchdog’s formal comments said that was inappropriate. The final report deals with what is now called "consumer data privacy."

Feb. 1, 2012 -- Consumer Watchdog calls for a Congressional briefing about Google’s new privacy and data policies to be open to the public and says a closed door-session with the lawmakers demonstrated Google executive’s “hypocrisy.” Read letter to Rep. Mary Bono Mack here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrbonomack020112.pdf

Jan. 25, 2012 – Consumer Watchdog says online privacy regulations proposed in Europe today that include the concept of a "right to be forgotten" could help provide U.S. consumers with tools necessary to protect their data held by Internet giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft, if ultimately enacted.

Dec. 2, 2011 --Consumer Watchdog calls for a federal investigation into the "Spyphone Scandal", in which software embedded in smartphones surreptitiously tracks users' activities, including their keystrokes and numbers they dialed. The probe should extend beyond the software developer, Carrier IQ, and include operating systems developers like Google and Apple as well as carriers and device manufacturers, Consumer Watchdog says.

Nov. 16, 2011 -- Office of the Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announces that it shut down 85 online mortgage modification scams that were advertising on Google. The investigation was prompted by Consumer Watchdog’s Liars and Loans: How Deceptive Advertisers Use Google issued in February.

Oct. 18, 2011 -- New documents obtained by Consumer Watchdog show that Google cannot meet the security requirements of the Los Angeles Police Department with its Google Apps for Government, a so-called cloud computing system, which was to have provided the City of Los Angeles with an email system for 30,000 employees.

Aug. 24, 2011 -- U.S. Justice Department forces Google to forfeit $500 million because it allowed illegal drug ads through its AdWords program. Consumer watchdog says the problem of predatory and deceptive advertising on the Internet giant's services continues. Further enforcement action by regulators is needed, Consumer Watchdog says.

July 8, 2011 -- Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee in September, the committee says. The announcement comes after an intensive campaign by Consumer Watchdog to require Schmidt's sworn testimony before Congress.

July 6, 2011 -- Facebook revises terms for game developers using its “virtual money,” Facebook Credits, changing one blatant anticompetitive provision in the wake of an antitrust complaint from Consumer Watchdog, but Federal Trade Commission Intervention is still necessary, Consumer Watchdog says.

June 24, 2011 – Google confirms that it is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for antitrust violations.

May 9, 2011 – Sen. Jay Rockefeller introduces Do Not Track Legislation in the U.S. Senate.

May 3, 2011 – California Senate Judiciary Committee approves SB 761, on a 3-to-2 vote after a first-in-the-nation hearing Do Not Track legislation.

April 12, 2011 – A coalition of consumer groups and privacy advocates, including Consumer Watchdog, welcomes the bipartisan effort by Senators John Kerry and John McCain to craft online privacy legislation, but said their bill needs to be significantly strengthened if it is to effectively protect consumer privacy rights in today’s digital marketplace.

April 4, 2011 – Sen. Alan Lowenthal introduces SB 761, Do Not Track legislation, in the California Senate. Consumer Watchdog is a sponsor of the bill.

March 30, 2011 -- Consumer Watchdog praises the Federal Trade Commission for requiring Google to submit to privacy audits for the next twenty years, but says the Internet giant should also face monetary penalties for its abuses.

March 30, 2011 – FTC announces Consent Agreement with Google for privacy violations with launch of its “Buzz” social network service. Agreement calls for 20 years of privacy audits of the Internet giant.

Feb. 18, 2011 -- Consumer Watchdog calls on the Federal Trade Commission to create a “Do Not Track” mechanism to protect consumers’ online privacy and adds that such a mechanism must have the force of law behind it. The call was in comments filed about The Federal Trade Commission’s staff report Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers. Read Consumer Watchdog’s comments to the FTC here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ftc_comments021811.pdf

Feb. 11, 2011 – Rep. Jackie Speier, D-CA, introduces Do Not Track legislation in the House of Representatives.

Jan. 24 , 2011 -- Consumer Watchdog sends Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) a 32-page report detailing how Google has inappropriately, benefited from its close ties to the Obama Administration, including how NASA’s Moffett Airfield, near Google’s world headquarters, has been turned into a taxpayer-subsidized private airport for Google executives used for corporate junkets. The report, Lost in the Cloud: Google and the US Government, is drawn from records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews. It found that Google’s ambitious quest for influence with the government is starting to pay off. Read the full report here:

Dec. 20, 2010 -- The Do Not Track function proposed in the Federal Trade Commission’s recently released online privacy report must be extended to include smartphones, Consumer Watchdog says in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article showing how applications for the iPhone and Android phones widely share personal data without the users’ knowledge or consent.

Dec. 12, 2010 -- The Commerce Department’s “Green Paper” about online privacy is an industry friendly document that would perpetuate current failed practices that give companies, not consumers, control of consumer data, Consumer Watchdog says.

Nov. 30, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog welcomes the European Union’s antitrust investigation of Google and reiterates its call for the U.S. Justice Department to launch its own investigation of the Internet giant.

Nov. 30, 2010 -- The European Commission opens an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google Inc. has abused a dominant position in online search, in violation of European Union rules (Article 102 TFEU).

Oct. 29, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog praises a coalition of state attorneys general led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for continuing an investigation into Google’s Wi-Spying scandal in the wake of the Federal Trade Commission halting its probe earlier this week.

Oct. 27, 2010 -- The Federal Trade Commission’s two-page letter ending its probe of the Google Wi-Spy scandal is premature and wrong, Consumer Watchdog says, and it leaves the American public with no official full account of the Internet giant’s repeated invasions of consumer privacy.

July 27, 2010 -- A significant majority of Americans are troubled by recent revelations that Google’s Street View cars gathered communications from home Wi-Fi networks, and they want stronger legal protection to preserve their online privacy, including a Do Not Track Option, according to a national opinion poll by Grove Insight, Ltd. for Consumer Watchdog. Read Grove Ltd.’s poll analysis here: http://insidegoogle.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/07/MemInternetPrivacy-0727101.pdf

July 22, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog repeats call for Congressional hearings into the Google Wi-Spy scandal during Congressional testimony about federal agency use of Web 2.0 technology. John M. Simpson testifies before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Written testimony: http://insidegoogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Oversighttestimony072210.pdf

July 8, 2010 -- Google’s Wi-Spy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress, some of whom are involved in national security issues, an investigation by Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com finds. Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee and former member of the Intelligence Committee has at least one wireless network in her Washington, D.C., home that could have been breached by Google. Read the letter to Harman here: http://insidegoogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Harman_Jane-7-7-10.pdf.

June 2, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog releases its study, “Traffic Report: How Google is Squeezing out Competitors and Muscling Into New Markets” that shows how Google unfairly uses search to promote its own properties and services.

May 19, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog formally launches its new Website, Inside Google, to focus attention on the company’s activities and hold Google accountable for its actions. The sites’ URL is http://insidegoogle.com.

May 18, 2010 – The White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s former top global lobbyist, is reprimanded for ethics violations that were revealed after a Freedom of Information Act Request from Consumer Watchdog for his email.

April 1, 2010 -- Consumer Watchdog files a Freedom of Information Act request with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy seeking copies of email between Internet Policy chief Andrew McLaughlin and his former employer, Google Inc. http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/OSTPFOIA.pdf

Feb. 24, 2010 – Noting that the Justice Department is examining Google’s business practices for possible antitrust issues because of the proposed Books Settlement, Consumer Watchdog asks the DOJ to expand its investigation to include whether Google is manipulating search results to favor its own products. http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrvarney022410.pdf

Feb. 18, 2010 – Attorneys for Consumer Watchdog appear in a federal court to urge Judge Deny Chinn to reject the revised Google Books settlement because it remains anticompetitive and violates both U.S. and international law. Consumer Watchdog is represented by Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, LLP at the Fairness Hearing on the proposed class action settlement.

Sept. 8., 2009 -- Consumer Watchdog files a friend of the court brief urging a federal court to reject the proposed Google Books settlement because it is anticompetitive and violates both U.S. and international law. The brief was filed for Consumer Watchdog by Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, LLP. http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/Googleamicusbrief.pdf

Jan. 27, 2009 – Consumer Watchdog calls on Google to cease a rumored lobbying effort aimed at allowing the sale of electronic medical records in the current version of the Economic Stimulus legislation. Google Health would benefit.